Web analytics is the measurement, collection, analysis and reporting of web data for purposes of understanding and optimizing web usage. Web analytics can be used as a tool to assess and improve the effectiveness of a web site. Web analytics may be off-site, on-site, or a combination of the two. Off-site web analytics refers to web measurement and analysis regardless of whether a person owns a website, and includes the measurement of a website's potential audience, webpage loading time, data accessed, type of device used to access the site by a user, and potentially other information. On-site web analytics can be used by the owner of a website to measure a visitor's behavior on the website. On-site web analytics can include UI widget element accesses, user inaction, user interactions on a webpage, inaction on a webpage (e.g., hovering a mouse), mouse clicks on a webpage, and potentially other information.
The mobile web refers to access to the Internet from a handheld mobile device, such as a smartphone connected to a mobile network or other wireless network. Mobile devices can include smartphones, netbooks, tablets, e-books, and other devices with a variety of screen sizes and input capabilities (e.g., touchscreen, mouse, keyboard, etc.).